Disintegration of microsporocytes in a male sterile mutant of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brassica napus</Emphasis> L. is possibly associated with endoplasmic reticulum-dependent autophagic programmed cell death

The mechanism of anther abortion in a male sterile (ms) line (Longyou 9S) of Brassica napus L. was evaluated by a combination of light and electron microscopies. Light microscopy showed that the tapetal cells of the ms line appeared smaller than those of its fertile line, sporogenous cells were rich in vacuoles, and pollen mother cells dismantled before the tetrad stage. Electron microscopy demonstrated that sporogenous cells were also rich in very long, plate-shaped endoplasmic reticulum cisternae that actively encircled portions of cytoplasm with organelles. In later stages, many large membrane-bound inclusions were observed in the sporogenous cells. These membrane-bound inclusions were lined by single or multiple layer(s) of the endoplasmic reticulum membranes and contained vacuoles, ribosome, plastid, mitochondria, small membrane-bound inclusion, and/or intact nuclei. In meiotic interphase and early meiosis prophase I, many vesicle aggregations and multivesicular bodies containing numerous vesicles appeared in pollen mother cells. More interestingly, some of the multivesicular bodies lay in deep cytoplasm or near cell wall, and some appeared fused with plasmalemma and released the inner vesicles out of plasmalemma. Such released vesicles gradually dispersed and later disappeared. The observations suggest that active endoplasmic reticulum-dependent autophagic programmed cell death and multivesicular body-dependent polar vesicle trafficking are probably present in the studied male sterile line.